Sports medicine doctors converge at South Lake Tahoe

Dr. Jonathan T. Finnoff, an osteopathic physician at Tahoe Center for Orthopedics and director of sports medicine for Barton Health, addresses the 110 doctors in South Lake Tahoe this week for a comprehensive sports medicine update and board review course.

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More than a hundred doctors from five countries and 32 states are in South Lake Tahoe this week to attend a comprehensive sports medicine update and board review course organized by Barton Memorial Hospital.

Sports medicine doctors have come from as far away as Australia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates to take the course to prepare for board examinations required after fellowships and every 10 years thereafter.

“They want to go to a great resource where they can learn all of the latest and greatest and prepare for the test, so we have 15 faculty from around the country, all internationally-known experts in medicine,” said Dr. Jonathan T. Finnoff, an osteopathic physician at the Tahoe Center for Orthopedics and director of sports medicine for Barton Health.

“We cover in four days the entire scope of the (sports medicine) specialty.”

Recruited to Barton from the Mayo Clinic and one of two Barton doctors who worked with U.S. athletes in this year’s Winter Olympics, Finnoff organized the sports medicine update and board review course, now in its third year.

It’s the only course of its kind in the United States and is co-sponsored by the American College of Sports Medicine, American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.

Expert speakers cover the latest research and treatments in the entire breadth of sports medicine, “anything from sports cardiology and endocrinology up to shoulder injuries and standard musculoskeletal stuff,” Finnoff said.

“I thought (the event) would be great to highlight our community and get Barton Health more well known as a sports medicine specialty area. We have really high-level sports medicine in this area and we’d like to make this a destination site for people to get medical care. One of the ways of doing that is by demonstrating that you are the expert in the field and doing courses like this is one of the ways of doing that,” Finnoff said.

“It also has economic benefits here. We’re bringing people in, they’re renting hotels, buying food and getting out and seeing the area. It’s just good all around.”

The comprehensive sports medicine update and board review course, held at Harveys Lake Tahoe, started Tuesday and continues through Saturday.